List of police forces in the United Kingdom

There are a number of policing agencies in the United Kingdom. There are three general types.

The majority of policing is carried out by regional 'police forces' (increasingly described as territorial police forces), which are police forces that cover a 'police area' (a particular region) and have an independent Police Authority. Current police forces have their grounding in the Police Act 1964 (in England and Wales), the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 or the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000, which prescribe a number of issues such as appointment of a Chief Constable, jurisdiction and responsibilities.
There are also national police forces that have a specific, non-regional jurisdiction, such as the British Transport Police. The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 refers to these as 'special police forces'.
There are a number of 'private constabularies' that have escaped police reform, mostly having their foundations in old legislation or Common Law. These have a responsibility to police specific local areas, such as ports and parks. These constabularies are not 'police forces' as their structure and constitution is not prescribed by law, as it is for territorial police forces and 'special police forces'.

Over the centuries there has been a wide variation in the number of police forces in the United Kingdom, with a huge number now no longer in existence. See List of former police forces in the United Kingdom for these.

Territorial Police Forces

England and Wales

The territorial forces use the boundaries of the local government areas (counties) established in the 1974 local government reorganisations (although with subsequent modifications). These forces provide the majority of policing services to the public of England and Wales. These forces are known as "Home Office police forces" due to the Acts of Parliament that established them. It should be noted, that despite the implication of the term, all police forces are independent, with operational control resting solely with the Chief Constable of each force (or the Commissioner with regard to the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police), with oversight from a Police Authority for each force.

The Police Act 1996 is the most recent piece of legislation which outlines the areas of responsibility for the 43 territorial forces of England and Wales (found in Schedule 1 of the Act). The Act also outlines the jurisdiction of constables of these forces.

Constable is the lowest rank in the police service, but all officers, whatever their rank are "constables" in terms of legal powers and jurisdiction. Police officers in Home Office police forces in England and Wales derive their jurisdiction from Section 30 of the Police Act 1996. This section outlines that such officers have jurisdiction throughout England and Wales and also the adjacent United Kingdom waters. Special Constables, who are part-time, volunteer officers of these forces, used to have a more limited jurisdiction - limited solely to their own force areas and adjacent forces. Since April 1st 2007, however Special Constables of England & Wales have full police powers throughout those two countries. This means that, in contrast to the majority of countries, all UK volunteer police officers now have exactly the same powers as their full time colleagues.

Generally, constables from English and Welsh Home Office forces do not have jurisdiction in Scotland or Northern Ireland and vice versa. However, limited powers exist to pursue and arrest where a person flees over the border into Scotland in certain situations. Legislation is also in place for "mutual aid" situations, which extends constables' jurisdiction into any part of the United Kingdom when they are on loan to the receiving force. An example of this was the G8 conference at Gleneagles, Scotland, where 14,000 officers from every force throughout the United Kingdom were involved and had full police powers under Scots law for the period of the operation consequent to being on loan to Tayside Police, the local police force for the area.

A minor oddity to jurisdiction is that police officers of the Metropolitan Police who are responsible for Royalty and VIP protection have jurisdiction in any part of the United Kingdom whilst performing those functions.

As of September 2006 police numbers in England and Wales were: ^[1]

Police officers: 141,354
Police Community Support Officers: 8,517
Other staff: 74,585

Police Officer numbers in England and Wales are at their highest ever levels. ^[2]

England

see also List of police forces in England sorted by county

Note: Staffordshire, West Mercia and West Midlands participate in a partnership called the Central Motorway Police Group

As of September 2006 police numbers in England: ^[3]

Police officers: 133,775
Police Community Support Officers: 8,133
Other staff: 70,818

Wales

As of September 2006 police numbers in Wales were: ^[4]

Police officers: 7,579
Police Community Support Officers: 384
Other staff: 3,767

Scotland

Most police powers and functions have been inherited by the Scottish Executive and Scottish Parliament from the Scottish Office. Areas for which legislative responsibility remains with the UK Government include national security, terrorism, firearms and drugs. The Police (Scotland) Act 1967, as amended, is the basis for the organisation and jurisdiction of the eight territorial forces in Scotland. Constables of these eight forces have jurisdiction throughout Scotland. (See above comments under English and Welsh forces for jurisdiction in other parts of the United Kingdom). The territorial forces use the boundaries of the local government regions established in the 1975 local government reorganisation, with minor adjustments to align with the current council area borders. These forces provide the majority of police services to the public of Scotland.

As of March 2005, police numbers in Scotland were: ^[5]

Police officers: 16,175
Special constables: 1,186
Other staff: 7,207

Scottish police forces do not employ PCSOs

Northern Ireland

County and borough based police forces were not formed in Ireland as they were in Great Britain, with instead a single Royal Irish Constabulary covering most of Ireland (the exceptions being the Dublin Metropolitan Police, which was responsible for policing in Dublin, and the Belfast Town Police force, which was replaced by the RIC in the 1880s). The Royal Ulster Constabulary was formed in 1922 after the establishment of the Irish Free State, and served until the reforms of the police under the terms established initially by the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 undertaken by the Patten Commission, which led to the renaming of the RUC in 2001. The Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 sets out the basis for the organisation and function of the police force in the province. Unlike many other areas, police powers have not been transferred to the devolved Northern Ireland Executive, instead remaining with the Northern Ireland Office.

Police Service of Northern Ireland

As of April 2007 police numbers in Northern Ireland were: ^[6]

Police officers: 7,244
Part time police officers: 888
Other staff: 2,701

The PSNI does not employ PCSOs.

Special Police Forces

These forces (except the SCDEA) operate in more than one jurisdiction of the United Kingdom. Within the multiple jurisdictions, the remit of some of the forces is further limited to the areas that they police, such as railway infrastructure or military/defence property. The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 gave the British Transport Police and Ministry of Defence Police a limited, conditional jurisdiction to act outside of their primary jurisdiction if the situation requires urgent police action and the local force are not readily available, or if they believe that there is risk to life or limb, or where they are assisting the local force. As these forces are responsible to specific areas of infrastructure, they do not answer to the Home Office, but instead to the government department responsible for the area they police. Both the MDP and BTP do voluntarily submit themselves to HMIC inspection:

British Transport Police (Heddlu Trafnidiaeth Prydeinig) - Department for Transport and Scottish Executive; the BTP operates only in Great Britain. As of September 2006, the BTP establishment was 2,492 police officers, 235 PCSOs and 997 other staff^[7]
Civil Nuclear Constabulary - Department of Trade and Industry; the CNC does not usually operate in Northern Ireland. As of April 2007, the CNC establishment was 758 police officers and 96 other staff ^[8]
Ministry of Defence Police - Ministry of Defence; the MOD police operates on Ministry of Defence estate throughout the UK. As of March 2006, the MDP establishment was 3,489 police officers (plus 291 probationers) and 530 other staff.^[9]
Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency; the SCDEA operates in Scotland and although nominally an agency it is controlled by a police authority and Scottish police legislation^[10]. As of March 2007, there were 197 police officers seconded to the SCDEA from the eight territoral police forces in Scotland, plus a further 77 police staff ^[11]

These forces are now defined in legislation as "special police forces".

Serious Organised Crime Agency

This agency is a national body responsible for tackling organised crime with jurisdiction throughout the United Kingdom. SOCA is an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored by, but operationally independent from, the Home Office. SOCA Officers can either be designated with the powers of a constable, Customs Officer and / or Immigration Officer. These designations can be unconditional or conditional: time limited or limited to a specific operation. Whilst SOCA Officers do not hold the office of constable, those who have been designated with the powers of a constable would enjoy the same powers and privileges of a police officer (except powers only available to a constable in uniform). During armed operations SOCA refer to themselves as 'police' and have the word 'police' on their body armour to avoid confusion.

Serious Organised Crime Agency

Local Police/Private Constabularies

These constabularies generally come under the control of a local authority or even private companies, in the case of some ports police and the Mersey Tunnels Police. They have been established by individual Acts of Parliament to police specific local areas. Jurisdiction is invariably limited to that area alone. This, together with the small size of the constabularies, means they are reliant on the territorial force for the area whose under whose jurisdiction they fall to assist with any serious matter. These constabularies do not have independent Police Authorities and their founding statutes invariably do not prescribe their structure and formation.

Ports police

Parks and Open Spaces

These small constabularies are responsible for policing specific land and parks. Officers of these forces have full powers of a constable within their limited jurisdiction.

Epping Forest Keepers
Hampstead Heath Constabulary
Kew Constabulary (formerly Royal Botanic Gardens Constabulary)
Royal Parks Constabulary

On 1 April 2004, following a review of the Royal Parks Constabulary by Anthony Speed, the Metropolitan Police took on the responsibility of policing the Royal Parks in Greater London and the RPC was abolished in England.

These constabularies are responsible for policing bye-laws within the parks and open spaces of their respective local authorities in Greater London. Parks Constables have the powers of a Constable to deal with by-laws relating to parks and open spaces under their control. However, constables of these parks constabularies are not 'police officers' in the normal sense of the word and may only enforce criminal law as any citizen is able.

Other

UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories

Crown Dependencies

Overseas Territories

Military Police

Overseas Police Forces in the UK

There are certain instances where police forces of other nations operate in a limited degree in the United Kingdom:

Police aux Frontières - As part of the Channel Tunnel agreement between the British and French governments, the Police aux Frontières have jurisdiction at Waterloo International Terminal, Ashford International Terminal and on Eurostar trains. The British Transport Police have a reciprocal arrangement at the Gare du Nord in Paris.
Garda Síochána na hÉireann - Under an agreement with the British Government under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Garda Síochána and the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland are allowed to inspect the Sellafield nuclear facility in Cumbria.
Military Police of visiting forces while present within the terms of the Visiting Forces Act 1952

(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_the_United_Kingdom#Overseas_police_forces_in_the_UK)

Fictional Police Forces

In the majority of crime fiction, in print or on screen, set in the UK, real police forces are often used as the basis of the drama (though often set in fictional locations). However, there have been some works of fiction that have created their own police forces:

Midsomer Constabulary - the local police force for the fictional county of Midsomer in the Midsomer Murders book and television series.
Sandford Police Service - the police force for the village of Sandford in the film Hot Fuzz. Interestingly Sandford is also the fictional town used for training scenarios by most police forces. Hence most UK police officers were already familiar with the name before the film was released.
Thamesford Constabulary - the local police force for the fictional county of Thamesford in the television series Softly, Softly: Taskforce.
Wyvern Constabulary - the local police force for the fictional county of Wyvern in the television series Casualty, Holby City and HolbyBlue.

References

External links

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